garage door repair emerald isle

Most people don’t think about their garage door until there’s a problem. Unfortunately, this method of ignoring garage door maintenance is a path that leads to wasted time and money. If this was remedied, a lot of issues could be caught and fixed before transforming into bigger problems. We’ll teach you how to maintain a garage door with some easy, quick tasks that’ll make all the difference. Our experience has allowed us to learn the best tips and tricks for how to maintain a garage door. If you take a small amount of time to do these steps and schedule garage door tune ups, you’ll thank yourself later. Trust us!

How To Maintain a Garage Door

Keep Your Garage Door Clean 

You may think that this is a pretty obvious tip for garage door maintenance, but a lot of people don’t keep their garage doors clean. You can use a product like a purple powder degreaser along with water to clean the front of your garage door. For the windows, you can use a window cleaner like Windex. If you want, you can even apply car wax to your garage door surface, as it’s known to repel dirt and give a shiny finish. 

If you have a wooden garage door, it’s recommended that you repaint the door once a year to keep it in good condition. Glass, aluminum, and steel are all pretty easy to work with; just use a soft cloth for cleaning so that you don’t scrape the surface of the door. Cleaning your garage door regularly will keep it in good condition and allow the material to last longer.

Monthly Visual Inspection

When it comes to garage door maintenance, you should always be on the lookout for anything strange or out of place in your garage. It could be a fallen part, snapped cable, or worn-down spring. Also, make sure to pay attention to how your garage door sounds. Is it creaking or making loud noises? Typically this will mean something’s wrong. In addition to being aware of your garage door system and how it normally functions, you should conduct a monthly visual inspection. This can be a super short check, around 5 minutes, to make sure everything looks good. Check cables, rollers, springs, pulleys, and mounting hardware while the door is closed. You’re looking for any sign of damage or frayed parts. If you see something out of place, call a garage door technician to come take a look. For garage door opener maintenance, inspect the opener and clean off any dust or dirt that’s accumulated on top. 

Safety Check

This is arguably the most important step in your garage door maintenance routine. It’s always a good idea to test your auto-reverse safety features. This is the safety system that prevents your garage door from closing on anything. It’s extremely important, as you may have kids or pets going in and out of the garage during the day. If someone accidentally closes the garage door while something is underneath, the garage door sensors will detect it and reverse the garage door. 

There are two photo eye sensors that sit on each side of the garage door. They need to be in sync with each other to work. You can visually check that the sensors’ lights are on and nothing is obstructing them. You can also clean off any dust and debris that’s accumulated on the sensors. That can sometimes interfere with their ability to function. You can test your sensors by closing the garage door while waving something underneath it, like a golf club or umbrella. If your sensors aren’t working, the garage door will close on the object. Call us here at Army of Davids Garage Doors so we can perform your garage door maintenance or repair. 

Tighten the Hardware

The majority of garage doors will move up and down over 1000 times a year. That can be rough on your garage door parts, so you should check the hardware at least once a year. You can go in and tighten the roller brackets and bolts with some tools. If you call us for garage door tune ups, this is something we’ll do as well. 

Professional Garage door Repair

Quality Affordable Garage Door Services

Lubricate Garage Door

As your garage door parts are constantly in use, it can be a good idea to lubricate them for better functionality. We recommend doing this twice a year with a spray lubricant. You should spray your rollers and hinges, along with the bearings that come on torsion-spring openers. Doing so will take off some stress that these parts are under because of their constant operation. It can be easy to forget to lubricate garage door parts, but you should make this a top priority, as it’s one of the best tips to allow garage door parts to last longer with better functionality. 

Inspect and Replace Rollers

Garage door rollers generally need to be replaced every 5-7 years. When you inspect your rollers, remove any that are worn or damaged. Pro tip: don’t remove the bottom rollers because they’re attached to cables and under a lot of tension. You’ll need a professional to handle this part of your garage door maintenance routine.

Test the Door Balance

If your garage door isn’t balanced correctly, it will put a lot more stress on the garage door opener. When the balance is right, the opener won’t have to pull all the weight. You can test this by pulling the release handle on the opener and manually pulling the door about halfway open. The door should stay up on its own. If it can’t stay up, it’s not balanced correctly or the springs are too old.

Inspect Weatherstripping

The weatherstripping alongside the bottom of your door helps insulate your garage from outdoor elements. Inspect the condition of the weatherstripping every couple of months. If it’s damaged or worn, it’s time to replace it. You don’t want to wait on this, as this seal is really important for your garage door insulation and, by extension, the energy efficiency of your home. 

Contact Us For Garage Door Maintenance

If you’re curious about how to maintain a garage door properly, don’t hesitate to contact us. We perform thorough garage door tune ups and inspections that will ensure your garage door is working in top condition. We assist with all garage door repair and installation needs, with same day service and a qualified, friendly team of professionals. So schedule garage door maintenance with us today!